If you think the world of government real estate is a staid and boring place, think again. There is a lot going on: big transactions, important policy and outright scandal. 2012 was no exception. We published 208 blog articles last year offering our observations on government real estate as events unfolded. A few of you […]
On February 13th GSA submitted its FY 2013 Congressional Justification, an outline of GSA’s planned programs and budget. At 243 pages it’s not an easy read, but there are some notable discoveries. The following is our summary of some of the more interesting features of this year’s Congressional Justification. Our focus, of course, is on […]
In response to an official request by Mayor Gray and effective May 23, 2012, GSA has expanded the District of Columbia’s Central Employment Area (CEA) to include the St. Elizabeths East Campus and the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District (highlighted in yellow) paving the way for federal agencies to locate there. While the existing office […]
(Photo: Orygun, Wikimedia) As we’ve reported in numerous postings throughout the past year (click on “BRAC” in the “Categories” to the right), the Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) process has led to the closure of more than 350 military bases—and the movement of many military operations from one base to another—since 1988. Whether we’ll experience […]
Moody’s website reports U.S. debt rating remains Aaa…for now It was widely reported yesterday (Tuesday, September 11) that the United States is in danger of another credit downgrade, this time by Moodys. In its press release the credit rating agency said that it would likely downgrade the U.S. government’s debt rating from Aaa to Aa1 […]
We recently discovered Pinterest. The service brands itself as “a tool for collecting and organizing things you love.” Well, we love government real estate so we decided to start our own Pinterest site entitled exactly that: “Government Real Estate”. It’s a place for us to post some of our favorite photos of government projects, people […]
(Cartoon: John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune) With both the House and Senate out of session this week, only four days remain for lawmakers and the White House to agree on a plan to reduce the deficit in order to avert sequestration—the $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts (this year) required by the Budget Control Act […]
What happens when Congress fails to pass a formal federal appropriations bill, and/or the President fails to sign it into law by October 1st? (We ask “when” rather than “if” because this has happened every year since FY 2000.) In order to avoid a government shutdown, Congress passes a joint resolution—known as a “continuing resolution”—that […]
Which federal agency is the world’s largest public engineering, design and construction management agency? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (also known as USACE or simply “the Corps”) is made up of some 37,000 civilian and military personnel delivering engineering services to customers in more than 90 countries worldwide. Although we typically associate it with […]
The table above lists the long term savings submitted by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on 3/8/12. Savings are calculated as the difference between the maximum rent originally requested by GSA and the maximum rent ultimately approved by the House. However, the savings represented for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are […]
200 Third Street, one of several buildings the Bureau of Public Debt occupies in Parkersburg, WV As we reported in two recent Spotlight pieces, President Obama’s FY 2013 budget proposes consolidating two U.S. Department of the Treasury bureaus—the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) and the Financial Management Service (FMS)—into a single organization with a budget […]
It’s that time of year. Market reports are published, conferences held and presentations delivered. We are all talking about the market: “What happened last year?” and “What can we forecast for this next year and beyond?” Unfortunately, some of the answers can be misleading. Here are three stats that are often cited in fundamentally incorrect ways: […]
View Larger Map Barrow, Alaska proudly names itself “The Farthest North American City” so it’s no surprise that it would also be home to the northernmost federal lease. If you’ve ever visited Alaska you know that it’s lifeblood is a series of airports that connect cities throughout the state. Where there are commercial airports there […]
Hensel Phelps was recently awarded the $192 million contract to build a new data center for the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) in Urbana, Maryland. The data center will be constructed on a 65 acre site SSA purchased last Fall. The 400,000 square foot National Service Center will perform the primary data operations of […]